Felicity

fe·lic·i·ty 

\fi-ˈli-sə-tē\

noun

• 1a : the quality or state of being happy; especially: great happiness, marital felicity
  1b: an instance of happiness
• 2: something that causes happiness
• 3: a pleasing manner or quality especially in art or language felicity with words
• 4: an apt expression

Other forms: plural fe·lic·i·ties

I love this word. Mostly because I love old British novels and movies and this word is used frequently in their dialogue. 

It describes how I feel inside as I'm riding through the gorge and seeing the brown hills get swallowed up by all that green. I wish I could capture the beauty that lays before me. The blue-gray water, the misty clouds just barely hovering around the tops of the tree covered mountains and the sea of every shade of green flowing between the river and the sky. 

I wish I could see what Lewis and Clark saw as they came around the bend in the river toward that untouched landscape. I can only imagine what they were thinking after the miles and miles of desert and dry land. Were they apprehensive about what was waiting in those forests, were they happy for the change in climate, did they know that it meant they were near the end? 

I think they actually traveled this portion of the Columbia in October and November, which means they didn't see what I am seeing. They were probably more worried about surviving the rough waters of the undamed Columbia and making treaties with the natives. I like to think that at least for a moment, maybe on the return trip in the spring, that they stopped and looked at the change in landscape and appreciated the beauty that lays before me now. 

It sure is breathtaking. What great felicity it brings me to sit here and chat with my sweet husband, holding his hand and drinking up all this green. What a blessing from our Father to enjoy life's little felicities.

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